Local News

Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested five people on cocaine charges in separate cases.

Preston Jaquan Bryant, 22, of Dawson Street in Wilmington was arrested April 18 and charged with possession with intent to sell, distribute or manufacture cocaine, selling or delivering cocaine, conspiracy to sell or deliver cocaine and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia while Amber Shalie Burch, 22, of Cadefel Court in Wilmington also was arrested April 18 and charged with conspiracy to sell or deliver cocaine.

Preliminary estimated numbers outlined by Watts on a worksheet at the April 17 meeting show a proposed 14 percent fire fee increase for the Calabash Fire Department for the next fiscal year 2018-2019, even though the department has not requested any increase.

SUNSET BEACH — Dredging Jinks Creek brought disagreement at a town council meeting last week.

Councilman Richard Cerrato took issue at the April 19 meeting with councilman John Corbett for querying residents in the area about whether they want dredging.

“I find it inappropriate you’re promoting dredging when it has been taken off the table by the scoping committee,” Cerrato said, referring to an April 9 session with agency officials that council members attended.

Preliminary estimated numbers outlined by Watts on a worksheet at the April 17 meeting show a proposed 14 percent fire fee increase for the Calabash Fire Department for the next fiscal year 2018-2019, even though the department has not requested any increase.

The Holden Beach Board of Commissioners recently established the Inlet and Beach Protection Board to serve as an advisory board for the town.

The board will prepare and recommend to commissioners a comprehensive long-term plan for the town’s role, if any, in the management, dredging and protection of the Lockwood Folly and Shallotte Inlets, including their respective navigational channels, and the management, protection and nourishment of the town’s ocean beaches and protective dune systems.

Two Shallotte teens accused of shooting into an occupied residence last Friday were arrested over the weekend. No one was injured.

Tristan Stone Kelly, 19, of Edna Way and Atlanta Blaze Crumbley, 17, of Sussex Drive SW were arrested April 22 and each charged with discharging a weapon into occupied property, larceny of a firearm and misdemeanor injury to real property.

Warrants show the two stole a Mossberg 12-gauge pump action shotgun from a man and fired it into an occupied singlewide mobile home occupied by a woman on Shade Tree Lane in Supply on April 20.

The nomination period for the 2018 North Carolina Award, the highest civilian honor bestowed by the state, has been extended to May 15. Created by the General Assembly in 1961, and administered by the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, the award recognizes “notable accomplishments by North Carolina citizens” in the fields of literature, science, fine arts and public service.

The 2018 North Carolina Drone Summit and Flight Expo (NC Drone SAFE) at the Grandover Resort and Conference Center from Aug. 5-7 in Greensboro will feature speakers, exhibitors and flight demonstrators from around the world that showcase the present and future of the Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS, or drone) industry.

The N.C Department of Transportation Division of Aviation’s UAS Program Office is hosting the event to bring together key leaders from the research, commercial and public safety community across N.C. and the nation.

NAVASSA — More soil testing at Navassa’s Kerr-McGee Superfund site is planned for 2018, but officials said cleanup could begin by the start of 2019.

Representatives of the Environmental Protection Agency, North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (NCDEQ), and the Multistate Environmental Response Trust (Multistate Trust), three groups heading up the cleanup process, hosted a quarterly update meeting April 10 at Navassa Community Center.